BAMAKO, Mali (AP) - Race organizers cancelled the 12th stage of the Dakar Rally's motorcycle event Wednesday at the request of riders mourning the loss of Italian motorcyclist Fabrizio Meoni, who died the day before in a crash.
Cars and trucks still competed in the leg, which ran from Kiffa, Mauritania to Mali's capital, Bamako, where the riders will be flown.
Meoni, 47, won the Dakar motorcycle title in 2001 and 2002. He had been in second place overall in this year's race behind France's Cyril Despres before crashing between the Mauritanian towns of Atta and Kiffa.
Meoni's death came a day after Spanish motorcyclist Jose Manuel Perez died in a hospital in Spain from injuries sustained in a crash last Thursday on the rally's seventh stage, also in Mauritania.
More than two dozen people have died in conjunction with the rally since it was first held in 1979. The event involves separate races for cars, trucks and motorcycles.
The Dakar Rally covers 8,956 kilometres from Barcelona, Spain, to Dakar, Senegal, including 5,431 kilometres miles) of competitive special stages. The race ends Jan. 16.